Achieving growth through product developmentA Portakabin case study

Page 4: Analysis and development

Each of the elements of EBS served two purposes.

Firstly, it strengthened how customers thought about the building as there were more options available. This helped make the Portakabin total product approach to its buildings become distinctive in the minds of customers. This is because they saw EBS as a one-stop-shop for all of their needs.

EBS also meant that customers no longer had to source additional services from other suppliers. This is an advantage for customers as there will be no additional costs or time outlay and Portakabin can issue one invoice for the whole finished product.

Cost advantages arise from aspects such as time saved in negotiating deals with several suppliers and the logistics involved in determining schedules when all involved parties need to be on site. This is done automatically by Portakabin .

What drives product development?

The new product development strategy was driven by a number of processes:

primary market research – receiving direct feedback from existing customers on what additional services they wanted to have

concept development and secondary market research – generating new ideas using commercial and marketing input on what services prospective customers might like to have and then testing these concepts with customers and prioritising the launch of the most liked concepts. The aim of this total product approach is to offer all clients every service they can associate with hiring a new building, and hence generate extra turnover and profit.